Chapter 171: The Concert

"Thump!" "Swish!"

A black whip shadow slashed diagonally down from midair, striking the ground and leaving several whip marks on the muddy earth that was already not very solid.

Senior Cuique narrowly dodged to the side, brushing past this sudden attack, then narrowed her eyes slightly, letting threads of silver-blue pull her wrists and yank her body forward with a sudden jerk.

Guided by the threads, her body seemed to transform into a puppet, shifting several meters in a posture and manner that completely defied human biomechanics, then suddenly halted at a certain point.

She thrust the demonic armor transformed into a dagger toward the neck of the person before her, but this fierce attack caused no serious injury, being firmly blocked by a blade composed of black metal.

Yīng flicked Cuique's dagger aside with the long blade in her hand, then let out a long sigh and said, "That's enough."

"You concede?" Cuique asked, while simultaneously dispersing the dagger in her hand into threads.

"No, a draw."

Yīng shook her head: "Without using anything other than demonic armor, it seems our exchange can only reach this level. By the way, has your injury improved a little?"

"It temporarily does not affect my life; no need for you to worry." In response, Cuique was slightly wary.

This was the third time since Yīng arrived in Fang Ting City that she had challenged Cuique to a duel.

The first occurred at the Yi Ce Bureau, where Cuique borrowed temporary demonic armor crafted by Hong Siyu and barely managed to repel Yīng; the next two took the form of pure hand-to-hand combat, held in an empty lot on the city outskirts, both ending in a draw.

However, this draw relied entirely on Cuique's unconventional tactics.

To be fair, judging solely by hand-to-hand skill, Yīng's level was unprecedented in Cuique's life; in fundamental fighting techniques, the opponent's level could be called that of a grandmaster. Beyond technique, in the crucial areas of mana and strength, Cuique was at a complete disadvantage. The reason she could repeatedly level the outcome in battle was entirely due to exploiting information asymmetry.

Her fighting style had a strong personal flair, built upon the foundation of threads and Masterpiece assistance; many moves completely defied common sense, even ones Yīng had never seen. Therefore, Cuique had to package the information gap as a key killing move to end the battle.

Of course, the reason the battle could be resolved so easily was ultimately because Yīng defined it as a "sparring session."

"If you handle things this way, can you really report back to the Claw Mark leader?"

Thinking this, Cuique looked at the other with some suspicion: "Or do you have some way to beautify your actions, calling play a probe?"

"Handling matters is handling matters; principles are principles."

Carelessly storing the demonic armor in her hand, Yīng swept her palm across her chest, and the magical girl outfit on her body instantly dissolved into mana particles scattered in the air:

"Claw Mark respects the individuality of every magical girl, allowing magical girls to use their own methods to complete missions, and my method is straightforward."

"Straightforward play?"

"Straightforwardly defeating the opponent."

Picking up the burlap bundle thrown on the ground and hoisting it onto her shoulder, Yīng shrugged: "Anyway, I've had enough fun fighting today. Thanks. Want to go have a drink together?"

"Alcohol?"

"What else could it be?"

Making a toasting gesture with her free hand in front of her mouth, Yīng smiled somewhat ambiguously: "Of all the waters in the world, what is more intoxicating than the contents of this cup?"

"Pass."

Dispersing the demonic armor in her hand as well, Cuique waved her hand: "I'm different from you; I have other missions."

"Boring."

Yīng shook her head and sighed: "Forget it. I'll go check the Yi Ce Bureau to see if that director is around and drag him out for a drink. Consider it thanks for acting as the go-between for us two."

That too, pass.

Cuique thought to herself.

Of course, although she had thoughts in her heart, her expression remained as cold and calm as ever, showing no hint of emotion.

Seeing her say nothing, Yīng was too lazy to invite further embarrassment; she just adjusted her tattered Taoist robe and walked toward the night-shrouded streets with great flair.

"Ah, right."

Just before that figure was about to disappear from Cuique's sight, she suddenly seemed to remember something, turned back to look at Cuique: "Fang Ting City seems to have gotten a bit lively recently. If we meet again, introduce your new friends to me."

New friends?

This phrase made Cuique's eyebrows raise, but before she could ask anything further, Yīng's figure had already melted into the night, leaving not a single trace.

Only Cuique was left standing in place, wearing a thoughtful expression.

Time retreated slightly, back to the afternoon of the same day.

In the Sunset District, at Sunset Middle School, students were gathering in classrooms, enjoying their lunch break after half a day of classes.

Judging solely by temperature, winter in Fang Ting City was not too cold, but located in the southern region of the Donghua State, the damp cold air often penetrated everywhere, making it difficult for people to retain body heat with clothing alone.

Therefore, even during lunch break, students were unwilling to step out of the classroom door, instead huddling inside and whispering among themselves.

As for why it was whispering, it was because some students were still resting with their heads on their desks.

Lin Xiaolu was also one of those resting with her head on her desk. The reason was nothing else; she was too sleepy.

In recent days, she had been working hard, diligently practicing, repeating the process of forging strength and refining spiritual thought whenever she had time, trying to advance her mana level further to reach the Bud level of Blossoming.

However, regrettably, while her mana level had indeed risen, her ability to Blossom remained far off.

The reason she was so anxious was not only because she had seen through some things and her mindset had changed, but also because the first Leaf-level magical girl had appeared in the Fang Ting City magical girl squad.

— Just the day before yesterday, Xia Liang successfully Blossomed, achieving a level promotion.

This meant that a teammate who had entered nearly half a month later than her, and was younger and less experienced in both age and experience, had already surpassed her by a full two stages in ability level.

It was impossible to say there were no feelings of envy or jealousy in her heart; as the only Seed-level member of the squad, Lin Xiaolu felt a strong sense of crisis.

Time had unknowingly reached mid-December; only three months remained until the annual magical girl qualification exam. If she was still Seed-level by then, she probably wouldn't even get the certification badge.

Combining Cuique's increasingly intimate attitude toward Bai Jingxuan recently, and the strange atmosphere that always existed with Xia Liang, if the exam ended and only she failed... Lin Xiaolu dared not think further.

For whatever reason, she must awaken her demonic armor as soon as possible.

Driven by this thought, Lin Xiaolu had been running to the training ground more frequently than Bai Jingxuan these days, and had finally swallowed her pride to ask Xia Liang for the secret to awakening demonic armor... yet even after going to such lengths, her demonic armor remained as if non-existent, showing not a single sign of movement.

Since the demonic armor failed to awaken, a good amount of proper sleeping time was instead consumed, so Lin Xiaolu had been listless these past few days, often dozing off in class.

That noon, just as she lay with her head in her arms, her consciousness hovering between sleep and wakefulness, she suddenly felt her arm being patted.

Drowsily lifting her head, she glanced to the side and saw a girl she didn't know well standing beside her, holding two colorful pieces of paper.

"Ah, sorry, Lin Xiaolu, I disturbed your sleep."

The girl smiled apologetically and placed the papers on Lin Xiaolu's desk: "Someone asked me to deliver these to you."

"Someone? Who?" Lin Xiaolu, her mind still foggy, asked instinctively, then saw the girl point toward the classroom door. Following her gesture, she spotted a boy with a somewhat familiar face peeking in from the doorway.

Just having woken up, Lin Xiaolu struggled for a moment to recall who he was—it was the guy who had confessed to her more than half a month ago.

Probably noticing Lin Xiaolu's gaze, the boy met her eyes for a second, then hurriedly shrank back behind the wall corner.

Watching his entire strange behavior, Lin Xiaolu couldn't help but look down at the two colorful papers on her desk, finally realizing what they were: a pair of concert tickets.

That guy, could he be asking me to go to the concert?

Realizing this, she immediately picked up the two tickets and handed them back to the girl in front of her: "Sorry, please return them to him for me. I don't need them."

"He said it's okay even if you don't go with him."

The girl didn't take them right away, but pointed at the tickets in Lin Xiaolu's hand: "Are you sure you don't want them?"

"No need. I don't want him wasting money on this."

Lin Xiaolu spoke seriously: "So please tell him I don't like this kind of thing."

"Hmm... alright, then I'll return them."

Apparently understanding the logic behind the situation, the girl wore a slightly ambiguous and gossipy smile: "Sorry to disturb you, Lin Xiaolu. Go back to your afternoon nap."

Then, holding the tickets, she walked to the classroom door and, seeing the boy's disappointed expression, shoved them back into his hands.

Confirming the tickets had been returned, Lin Xiaolu finally breathed a sigh of relief and lay back down on the desk, trying to find a comfortable position to continue her nap. But before she could move much, she noticed someone still watching her from the seat in front.

She didn't even need to look in that direction to confirm: it was Jiang Yuan, the only classmate in this class she could truly call a "friend." The other girl sat right in front of her, their desks pushed together.

"Lin Xiaolu."

Lowering her voice, Jiang Yuan spoke mysteriously to Lin Xiaolu: "Do you know how hard it was to get those two tickets that guy gave you?"

"No idea."

Lin Xiaolu buried her head in her arms and mumbled: "I'm not interested anyway. I don't like any pop stars."

"That's not just any pop star's concert!"

Jiang Yuan tapped impatiently on the chair back, trying to get Lin Xiaolu's attention: "It's the concert of Asako Maruka, an idol at the diva level who has been famous for over ten years and is known worldwide!"

"So what?"

"Even the theme song of your favorite magical girl anime, 'Colorful Sky Angel,' is sung by her!"

Jiang Yuan covered her mouth with her hand while raising her voice slightly: "As a new-generation ACG enthusiast, you should understand the significance of her status!"

"... I don't get it."

Lin Xiaolu lifted her head, looking confused: "The theme song of 'Colorful Sky Angel' is indeed very nice, but what does that have to do with her status?"

"Are you an idiot? It has everything to do with it! Anyone who sings the theme song for a magical girl anime is absolutely a top star in the pop music scene!"

Jiang Yuan spoke with frustration, as if trying to forge steel: "Asako Maruka is a top-tier music idol at the ruling level in the Eastern Japan Province! She rarely holds concerts in the Eastern Hua Province! Even when she does, it's only in major central cities; she almost never comes to small places like Fang Ting City. Do you know how rare this opportunity is!"

"Oh."

"Don't you want to hear her sing the theme song of 'Colorful Sky Angel' live?"

"... Maybe I do?" Lin Xiaolu said uncertainly.

"Heh heh, then you were absolutely right to reject him!"

Jiang Yuan smiled beautifully, reached into her sleeve, and suddenly pulled out two tickets identical to the ones just returned:

"For sticking to our Hequntong Alliance! Let's go listen together!"

Thanks to the alliance donation from reader Magnetic Field Madman, and the captain donations from readers Stone Walking, Fish Hehe, 3zh-bth, Parzen, Xia Lu Syaru, and the captain of the reader group.

Also, the extra character recruitment event ended at the end of last month. I have already selected some readers' extra character settings from it and will gradually introduce them over the next while. Please look forward to it, meow.

(End of this chapter)